Fabrication of lead-free (Na0.82K0.18)0.5Bi0.5TiO3 piezoelectric nanofiber by electrospinning

(Na0.82K0.18)0.5Bi0.5TiO3 nanofibers were synthesized by sol–gel process and electrospinning. Scanning electron microscopy was used to verify that the diameters and lengths are in the range of 150–600 nm and several hundreds of micrometer. Perovskite structure and grain size (20–70 nm) were verified by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The high effective piezoelectric coefficient d33 (96 pm/V) was measured by scanning force microscopy. It may be attributed to easily tilting the polar vector of domain for an electric field and the increase in the number of possible spontaneous polarization direction near the rhombohedral–tetragonal morphotropic phase boundary. The research shows that there are potentional applications for (Na0.82K0.18)0.5Bi0.5TiO3 nanofiber in nanoscale lead-free piezoelectric devices.